Pieces of artificial turf are stacked next to shoes belonging to members of California Golden Bears football team during the team's first practice at the newly renovated Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Pieces of artificial turf are stacked next to shoes belonging to...

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Members of California Golden Bears football team pray during the team's first practice at the newly renovated Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. on Thursday, Aug. 16, 2012.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Members of California Golden Bears football team pray during the...

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Players prepare for their first practice in Memorial Stadium. A week from now, they return to the new digs for good.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Players prepare for their first practice in Memorial Stadium. A...

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Puka Lopa dons his cleats for the Bears' first practice in the renovated Memorial Stadium.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Puka Lopa dons his cleats for the Bears' first practice in the...

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Alejandro Crosthwaite (71) and Brian Schwenke enter the stadium, which includes a training center and Hall of Fame.

With remodeling nearly complete and a new carpet installed, it was time for Cal's football team to move back into its new-old home, if only for a day.

Players and coaches got their first look at renovated Memorial Stadium on Thursday for a morning practice devoted primarily to getting a feel for the Matrix Turf artificial field in advance of their move-in date next Friday.

The bright green turf with sand and rubber granules providing cushioning received high marks from the fellows in cleats.

"I like this turf," cornerback Steve Williams said after planting and cutting on the surface. "It's nice and soft. My cleats get a nice grip. I didn't have a problem adjusting to it. I think we have one of the best turfs now in the Pac-12."

Wide receiver Keenan Allen, who will spend his last season as a Bear running routes on the field, gave it a thumbs-up, saying, "It's really nice. It's a fast field, no problem."

As he watched his players go through their drills, coach Jeff Tedford said, "I was keeping a close eye on everything with their footing. I didn't see any slipping. Keenan mentioned to me that it felt really fast."

In preparation for Cal's season opener Sept. 1 against Nevada, much of the work taking place now is of the cleaning-up variety as workers scrub walls and polish floors to make the stadium presentable for 63,000 fans.

"Believe it or not, the project team is counting it (down) in hours," assistant athletic director Bob Milano Jr. said. "There's nothing that's going to stop us from having a game on Sept. 1."

Milano said one of the last projects to be completed is paving the access road to the north tunnel of the stadium, through which the team runs to the accompaniment of a cannon blast before games. Additionally, the Andy Smith Bench, heretofore located on the east side of the field, will be installed in a plaza at the north end of the stadium so fans can appreciate the tribute to the Bears' coach from 1916-25.

Cal's current coach spent the better part of the last decade campaigning for a renovated stadium in order to remain competitive in college football's "arms race." He was pleased with the near-finished product after his team finished its first practice in a stadium whose exterior is almost 90 years old while its interior is virtually brand new.

"It's awesome," Tedford said. "It's beautiful, it's great. It feels like so long since we've been in here. It feels like forever. (The players) were excited to be in here. But as I told them, the product that goes out there between the lines is the most important part."

The last time Cal was in Memorial Stadium for a game was Nov. 27, 2010, when Washington scored a touchdown with no time remaining for a 16-13 victory. Twenty-one months of construction ensued.

"It means there's been a lot of hard work, a lot of devotion that has gone into this project," Tedford said. "There's a great sense of pride about it. Everything we've done here with the stadium and the high performance center, it's all impressive."

(Tedford surely did not notice one of his assistant coaches hawk a wad of chewing tobacco onto the new turf after practice in what seemed like a sacrilege to the new shrine.)

Milano said the hundreds of construction workers in the various trades who spent time on the $321 million project will be honored in a ceremony during Cal's second game at Memorial Stadium on Sept. 8 against Southern Utah.

"Some of the workers say their grandfathers worked on the original stadium," Milano said. "It will be a wonderful celebration. ... Institutional buildings are designed to last at least 50 years. The former stadium lasted 80-plus years. I would anticipate this stadium lasting 80-plus years."

While the stadium will be game ready Sept. 1, it won't be entirely finished, Milano said, noting that some "decorative touches" won't all be in place by then. And the new Cal Athletic Hall of Fame located within the eight-level press box structure won't be complete for another year as school officials assemble the necessary mementos and displays.

Bud "Dog" Turner, who has been involved with Cal football since 1970 in various capacities and attended games at Memorial Stadium decades before that, had a succinct take on the renovation project.

"When I first saw this place in '47, I thought it was awesome," he said. "This is awesomer, if that's a word."